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“Woyanne is not the enemy” – Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam

Posted on , Updated on by Elias Kifle
Professor Mesfin Woldemariam
Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam says Woyanne is
not the enemy of Ethiopia

Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, who is currently in Washington DC representing Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ, said at a meeting today (Sunday afteroon) that “we should not call a ‘political opponent’ like Woyanne an enemy.” It’s like a Jewish professor asking Israelis not to call Hitler or the Nazi party their “enemy.”

Click here to listen

In ridiculing those groups that have raised arms against Woyanne, Prof. Mesfin said at the meeting, which was held at the Marriott Hotel in Washington DC, that these organizations are sacrificing young Ethiopians just so that their leaders can come to power, arriving in Addis Ababa by plane.

Prof. Mesfin said that Woyanne will never give up power because 1) it has the blood of many innocent Ethiopians on its hands, and 2) it has amassed a great deal of wealth. Therefore, the professor explained, we must be able to forgive Woyanne for shedding the blood of innocent Ethiopians and that it needs to be allowed to keep the wealth it illegally amassed (plundered) if we want to see change in Ethiopia.

The professor was not done yet. He said we must be considerate to Woyanne. We have to try to understand the fears and concerns of the Meles gang.

Woyanne could not ever have done a better public relations job than what Prof. Mesfin did today to weaken the resolve of Ethiopians in the Diaspora against the fascist regime. He gave DLA Piper lobbysts and those Senators who are blocking H.R. 2003 a tool to use it against us. How is it possible now for the U.S. Senators to pass a law cutting aid to Woyanne when a prominent member of the opposition refuses to say that the Meles crime family is not the enemy of Ethiopia?

This is the very reason why Ethiopian Review wrote two weeks ago that the party Prof. Mesfin represents, UDJ, is a fake opposition party. UDJ is undermining the struggle by portraying Woyanne as a legitimate regime, at the same time campaigning against freedom fighters who are shooting back at Woyanne. UDJ turns out to be even worse than Beyene Petros’s UEDF. At least Dr Beyene never attacks other opposition parties as Prof. Mesfin continues to do in every opportunity he gets.

Prof. Mesfin is a great scholar in the field of geography and a genuine and respected human rights advocate. For that we hold him in high esteem. But it is clear that he has no clue about politics or how to bring about political change in Ethiopia. Even worse, with all due respect, he has unknowingly become a tool for Woyanne. Meles, Azeb and gang can stop paying DLA Piper $50,000 per month since they now have a much more effective lobbyist in the person of Prof. Mesfin who is providing a free service.

In the next several weeks, Prof. Mesfin will visit several cities in the U.S. repeating the same messages to Ethiopians in North America. Those of us who support the brave Ethiopians who are shedding their blood to remove the Woyanne cancer from Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa will just ignore him.

126 thoughts on ““Woyanne is not the enemy” – Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam”

  1. Sorry folks,

    I am tempted to believe “Do we know what the hell we are doing”? If Weyane is not the enemy, who is please? How can the good professor compare the Demos and Reps in the US with the situation in Ethiopia? That is puzzling!!!

  2. Something is definitely wrong with the professor. He has
    been flip-flopping with these types of assinine comments
    for the last two years. I thought he said he was out of politics and once those who outshone him in Kinijit have left the party he is back in Andenet in the drivers seat.
    masterminding the triangulation of a party that could have
    played a role in Ethiopian politics. His eccentricity knows no bounds.

    Yeah, if the fascist mafia is not the enemy of Ethiopia today, who is? Is it sinelity or sheer stupidity to compare
    Obama vs. Clinton with the treasonous woyane, that is accused of war crimes and the muzzled opposition? Talk about
    comparing apples to oranges. How sick!!!

  5. Selam All

    The good Professor’s real picture is coming in to light ! This is not new of Pro.Mesfin it was decleared after the death ofhead of Woyane’s killing squad “Dehininet” Kinfe Gebremedhin by his words “ethiopia And Sew Atach ”
    So He has already destroyed his credential long ago !

    Dehna koyu

  6. When my old Geography Professor, Mesfin Woldemariam, expresses unfamiliar phrases to us in the diaspora such as ‘We should not call a “political opponent” like Woyanne an enemy,’ two words expressed in rage by Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, come immediately to my mind: maélet, maélet, means “Treason! Treason!” but I have to wait until I hear the whole thing.

  9. Elias
    Please try hard to understand what he was saying before commenting on his speech. Or atleast wait for a time to ask him this question to get further explanation before you supply ammunition for the woyanes.
    Please, sir.
    Thanks

  10. The good professor is cosnfused. What does TPLF mean? Can anyone tell the professor that these people are working for one ethnic group? As their name clearly tells us, the woyanes are liberation fronts from the enemy others. Those others are we the non-tigreans. Well that is not and has not been only a name. They have shown us in the last long two decades what is in that evil name.

  11. No wonder the WOYANE hired guns “Piper Intl” suggested to Dr. Berhanu Nega that he follows the path Mesfin Woldemariam has chosen. Mesfin Woldemariam also enjoyed a very close relationship with Mengistu Hailemariam and with Haile Selassie before that advocating the same – mocking patriotic Ethiopians who laid down their life for free and democratic Ethiopia! It is time that he be heralded as a perrenial traitor or “BANDA”.

  12. Elias,

    Some people are asking you to wait for the full story. Please tell them that there is no justification enough, there is no reason enough, to come up with that kind sentence. The explanation doe not matter. If one says the Nazzis were not wrong, then we do not need any explanation to know a mental problem. How many people should die? How many should disappear? How many land should be confisicated from Wollo and Gondar and be given to Tigray and Sudan? How many teenage girls should be raped in Wolkayit and Ogaden by woyanie soldiers? How many of us should leave our country?

    “Woyane is not enemy?” Call 911 please and let the ambulance take this professor to the hospital. He really needs help.

  13. The professor very well knows that woyane is the main enemy of the Ethiopian people. His speech is indirect. He just wanted to oppose the Ginbot 7 movement’s wise strategy and idea, currently become popular among rational people in the Diasporas. As one of my friends above says, the professor’s main enemy is those who outshine him, not woyane.
    Better to ignore him. He is too old to deal with contemporary politics.

  14. I think the professor is misquoted out of context. With out listening the whole speech it is unfair to put a judgment. Many people in our community are developing bad habit that is not wanting to listen any thing that we don’t like. What is the point to engage in a discussion if we don’t want to listen some ones point of view which could be different from ours? If we don’t agree with the other persons view, we can discuss it with respect and humility. It is not right to call the professor old or any other name just because we disagree with his view.

  18. He well knows that woyanne is the number 1 enemy, but he may not want to put as it is because of many reasons(from his party’s point of view). He is telling us that Woyanne shed the blood of many innocent people with its gangs. So, only talking may provoke and aggravate the evil nature of the regime. And only action is needed rather than condemning Woyanne every time. The weakness of the opposition, the diaspora and the majority of the Ethiopian people in general make woyanne live longer. There should be massive public outrage and riot to overthrow the regime. This seems unlikely from the lack of patriotic nature of most of the people. This is the crystal clear fact. No event of history can be traced for the people to stand and attack those previous regimes. Yes, the people fought against the Fascist Italian colonialists for fear of its own regime. Now also there is a strong fear to stand against Woyanne. We need to change our culture and behaviour, and learn from other countries like Kenya. Otherwise, it is easy to talk a lot residing here in U.S.

  19. Professor is getting it FINALY! A party (Woyane) that fought 30 +years on eliminating the DERG, and still continued fighting hard with the reminants here and there is not and will never be an enemy of Ethiopia. If WOYANE is going to be an enemy of Ethiopia then I think Ethiopia must not have a friend!!! Woyane is the best Ethiopia can get…Fighting to win on the root causes of POVERTY in Ethiopia…Justice in Ethiopia…
    ER…OPEN UP before it is too late…

    KURU ETHIOPIAWI..

  21. That is not what he said on his letter from prison, a little while back. “In the end those who are responsible for the death of the demonstrators will eventually get their day in court.” What happened to that dear Proffesor?

  22. “Weyane is not Ethiopian enemy…”.Without contest, it is just a phrase.

    What do you expect him to say? Majority of Tigreans support Weyane. It would be a mistake for him labeling Weyanes as Ethiopian enemies. It is simply politically incorrect and a blunder for his legacy with grave consequences for the country’s unity.

    What surprises me is his analogy of Weynes’s savage attack on Ethiopians with Clinton vs. Obama campaign.
    It is not his first time comparing apple and Orange. Many Ethiopians compare Weyane with Mussolini. On the other hand, Prof gives Weyane the comfort by telling them “you are not the exceptions; the previous regimes were also the same as you”.

  23. I am not shocked at all. This is a professor in geography who is an expert in changing locations at a moment’s notice. I was rather shocked when many of you were telling those ‘glorifying’ remarks about him. Some of you were telling me and million others that he was imprisoned by all consecutive regimes, including Haile Selassie. That is right, including Haile Selassie. KKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!How did he get out of the most dreaded prison of the Derg? How did he get out of the Derg prison and was able to ‘sneak’ out of the country more than once through Bole to Chicago to see his friend, the late Abraham Demoz? He never suspected that something harmful would have happened to him when he returned. Remember if the Derg thought that a person posed an intellectual problem, it would not give a flying tickling about the rest of the world. Quite often even if you decided to regret and beg for mercy. You would be gone in a flash. Hello?!!!!!!! He scrupled some notes about the Ogaden during the ‘Dingay Dabbo Zemen’. Oh!!! That was like a word(words) of a miracle worker or rather of some one who is teh most intelligent person of his time. KKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!! You are going to see the real him from now on. He may have to sneak in here during his next lobbying trips not because of EPRDF but to hide from Elias!!! Take this to the bank my friends!!!!

  24. Woyane din’t even give a legal certificate fot UJD party to operate freely and it is making life difficult for them.

    How come the good professor see the woyane/oppostion case the same as Obama/Clinton situation? Now this is too much for me, and I can’t comprehend it.

  25. If Birtukan is a traitor, if ledetu is a traitor, Who is Prof. Mesfin? Does it exclude him from being one, the most power full tool for TPLF. Shiek phidophile is nothing compared to Prof. when it comes to poletical leverage. His speech is a tip of the ice thinking what he might have told prominent US poletician about Ethiopian politics in our(opposition) behalf. TPLF squezes any credibility from homeless not alone from well repected individuals like Prof. Mesfin. We need to ACT and tell them who they are and where they belong. No Yelugneta because he is old. ” Komatan Komata Kalakew, nege lifetefit yinesal.”, it’s not poleticaly correct but it serves its purpose in Prof. Mesfin’s case. Ethiopian politics is black and white, no grey area. Like the Texan idiot said “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” What a shame to go down like this in history book. You wrote bad ending for yourself in a time where we need you the most. TPLF is robbing our love for our cherished people. Go G7.
    Regards,

  26. After long and bloody 18 years of TPLF’s rule, do I need from Prof. Mesfin or anyone else for that matter to tell me who is and is not my enemy?. The answer is an emphatic NO.
    With regards to those heroic Ethiopians who already made up their minds and took arms to fight against Woyanne, surely they would not entertain certain professor’s lecture for they understood the Woyanner earlier and better than most of us.

  29. Professor is changing strategy after long tine analyss,and life experience. The first and foremost principles of peacefull struggle is loving your enemys.While woyane says we are enemies it is corect to respond that we are not enemies but political opponents.It is not a liberation movement,it is how to resolve Ethiopian deadlocked politics,keeping what is acheved and moving forward without ever losing.
    If enemity was the issue Mandella would have killed or at least kicked out all whites from South Africa.
    The Ethiopian problem is not only the problem of the Government,it is also the people’s.
    Every one knows or made to believe that change of government is only possible thru armed strugle,and every one beleives that change of government guarantees social developement.Never.
    Weather we like it or not EPRDF is now an addiction problem that does not go away without damage.
    We donot have to kill the subjects of the addiction inorder to treat them.
    This kind of struggle is difficult to accept but it is the only way,it will allow to slowly prepare the people for power,it will help strengthen the system before any one takes power first and start research later.

  31. the good professor is right. If you think( or call at least) weyanne is enemy, there is no need for you to continue with peaceful so called struggle. you should get your own guns and go to the woods. most ethiopians don’t know what the want. You call weyane enemy and at the same time expect it to be democratic. The same way I was puzzled about eritrea. most ethiopians think they belong to ethiopia but at the same time they consider them enemy and want to eradicate them from the face of the earth. grow up people.

  32. we r getting only one side of the story, we neeed to get the full part of this speech by the professor and we must be able to understand why he is saying all these new things. Something must be up. He knew something that he has never seen before about the woyangn gang. May be he sees the danger posed by woyan to destroy ethiopia, to escape accountablity. Woyang will do anything to get immunity for all the crimes they commited. One way to do this is to destroy ethiopia, so that no functional gov’t will be there to press charges against them. The other way to get immunity by negotiotion, with the coming goverment or what soever.I guess the professor now fully realizes all these and wants to open dialogue with woyangn, to stop the regim from exercising distructive procedures to weaken Ethiopiansim and ethiopia.
    GObez, let’s wait and see don’t rush to judge the professor…
    he may have so many good reasons to change direction

  33. What is the difference between the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mr. Donald Yamamoto and Professor Mesfin Woldemariam when it comes to supporting the Meles’ corrupt regime? Both are the same: friends of the Woyanne regime and enemies of the Ethiopian people. Do you think both are promoting the Woyanne regime for free? Don’t fool yourself! They might have been paid millions of dollars to control the damages we the diaspora people have brought upon the Woyanne regime. The wealth Meles and his wife have amassed so far can change the Sahara Desert into oases, and so the Meles and Azeb stolen money can easily change the Professor’s mind from supporting UDJ to supporting the Woyanne regime.

    It took us a long time to remove Hailu Shawel from our lists as our enemy, and now we have another headache more severe than the headache we got from Hailu Shawel and that is Professor Mesfin Woldemariam. The Prophet Micah is absolutely correct when he said: “… a man’s enemies are the members of his own household” (7:6). I’m frightened now than ever before that UDJ may have become an agent paid by Meles Zenawi to destroy Ginbot 7 and leave us without any organization that stands up against our common enemy – the Woyanne regime. We better avoid attending Professor Mesfin’s meeting and tell him that we are very disappointed to hear him say that Woyanne is our friend, not our enemy. What more do we want to hear from him? We have heard him from his own mouth that he is the friend of Woyanne, not ours; he has made us liars for speaking out that Woyanne is our enemy, but he is contradicting our assertion that Woyanne has indeed been our worst enemy; hour hope is now on Dr. Berhanu Nega, not on Professor Mesfin, who purpose betrayed us in front of a camera.

    Bye, bye Professor Mesfin Woldemariam! You have chosen to support the rotten regime of Meles Zenawi, and it is your right to do so, but don’t try to meddle with Ginbot 7 led by Dr. Berhanu Nega, our supreme leader and the hope of all the Ethiopian people.

  34. If we have heard the Prof correctly he compared woyanes with fascist Italians who massacred thousands of Ethiopians but one thing we can’t deny is, as he said, that they (woyanes) are Ethiopians – whether we like it or not. And he said what he said from that standpoint. I believe we have to understand him from that angle before we comment on his statements.

    Thanks

  35. I found it interesting and a little disturbing that Prof. Mesfin spent a lot of time explaining that being jailed does not make some one a hero. Why did he have to dwell on that issue? I did not hear any of the other kinijit leaders claiming that they are heroes. Also I finding it telling about him that he was only worrying about the sacrifices his close family suffered by bringing him food to jail, while he failed to mention those students who were savagely beaten up and killed demanding the release of Kinijit leaders. He was lamenting the fact that his sister lost 20 kg, later jokingly saying that it may be for good. I found professor’s speech today disappointing to say the least. He poorly represented his party. He speech was fool of contradictions. By the way, that other guy is much better. I think professor should stick to human rights.

  36. Ethiopian Review, although this website delivers a lot of important news, it is heavily opinionated and thus your information loses its integrity, i come here to know what happened and i will make my own conclusions i dont need you to make them for me. That said i commend the staff who runs it because im sure its a daunting task running a news page. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and i wish we spent more time understanding eachother than becoming drumbeaters over a controversial statement. I believe the point the professor wants to make is:

    1. If TPLF is alienated they will stick to their guns and we will regress to spilling the blood of young people therefore
    2. It is better create an atmosphere where TPLF can be forgiven for their crimes and their excessive looting in order for them
    3. Be open to the possibility of stepping down peacefully in a civil political arena (which i think is what he meant by the Obama reference)
    Dear editors, i truly appreciate your hard work and im sure your efforts are widely recognized but there is always room for improvement. Insulting the professor’s intelligence was not necessary anyway….

  37. It is ridiculous to draw a conclusion with out getting the picture/context of his speech and argument. We are really in a very serious problem of not using healthy and constructive role. By the way, the well known people such as Professor Mesifin have no time to play with very silly ideas.

  38. May be the professor is trying to tame a wild beast who has been among herds of domestic animals by disguising itself. Obama and Clinton!!!!!!? I really couldn’t comprehendwhat he wanted to say. One thing we need to do is tell Meles that your day is coming to be over and don’t even think to take advantage of outdated philosophy of the confused professor.

  39. I don’t agree with the Prof. comment, but People, we have got to learn to TRUST our leaders. We all know the Prof. has spent all his life to bring about change in Ethiopia, for the better of the lives of ordinary Ethiopians. If we deny the Professor’s commitment or wonder where he belongs to, we would never have one to lead.

    ER, you guys should be more considerate b4 posting such kind of articles. I hope you will try to ask him,first hand, and brief us what he was talking about.

    Thanks

  40. I do not trust Prof. Mesfin who infact has approved the massacre of 60 ethiopian Ministers and intellectuals during the Derg Regime as leader of Atari Commission. ! How on earth he tell us we should not see Weyane as enemy ?? The blood of 193 ethiopians massacred by Weyane Agazi Militia will hound him wherever he goes. He has to be flown from Addis to Washington tell us such garbage? dont we have any stronger fighters any more ? ay ethiopia.

  41. Let the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers of those murdered in cold blood decide if Woyyane is the enemy or not! Unless, of course, the good professor is suffering from
    Alzheimer disease! I hope the professor would not be the presiding judge over the Woyyane criminals trial.
    I’m afraid he would find all of them not guilty by reason of ….
    It is one thing to support peaceful struggle. However,it is preposterous not to call Woyanne the enmey!

  43. Elias,
    You’re just against UDJ-Kinijit. That is all there is to it. Why do you take things out of context and confuse people. Prof. is being politically correct and trying to tell us the best way to do our thing. You’re one dangerous human being. Ethiopia doesn’t need you brother.

    Go UDJ and G 7

  44. the so called prof mesfin has mastered the secret of surviving in ethiopian power house because this guy has worked and survived with haileselaise, mengustu, and now meles and he certainly will work with the future regimes. he has no principle or agenda but personal power ambition.

  45. Dear Elias,

    If possible, give us the full picture so that we can grasp the whole message of his speech. I am afraid, you are rushing to judge by taking just a sentence. It sounds that Prof. Mesfin is quoted out of context.

    The only thing I do not accept is his comments about other opposition groups.

  46. Don’t try to comment before hearing the full history. Elias, hope you heard what the professor said yesterday. Your report completely contradicts with what the professor said. You need to know first what enemy means and compare it with the words from the professor.

  47. Another Garbage from ethiopianreview.com. What did the professor say actually? Do you have his speech. We can not come to decision just by reading your biased report. Let us hear or read his whole speech and we will be the judge. Whoever is writing this, Please have your own column in the site and anyone interested in your opinions can read that column. For those of us who need objective reporting, just write the news and we will be the judges. Again, please stop this I know better than the readers nonsense. This is a no brainer.

  48. Gudfela!! we all know that kality is not a place for anyone to live in ofcourse there is no need for him to go back. Prof.Mesfine enjoying his freedom but he musn’t get over excited,.. there are other ways to go about it…to be quite and get on his day to day life….what he is saying is very revolting to asy the least,…we all have grate respect to the Prof. his contribution to our country over the years but now he is back fireing,…I don’t think any adult with a right mind would take his speech seriously….we will continue our struggle with all means,…for now for the Prof.is safe to go back home in fact he might have a red carpet treatment from the government.

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